Early Risers.

[New Haven Neil]

24 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Some houses in this area are worth a million apiece or more.

 

The average price in our village is somewhat skewed by the late Trevor Hemmings (he was worth over a billion) having a mansion and stud/stables here.  He was a top line racehorse owner, used to fly out every day in a personal helicopter to races. The house and stud is worth......a LOT.  Three time Grand National winner.

[Hroth]

4 hours ago, polybear said:

Bear has five such gadgets - I find that every now & then they misbehave; an executive reset** usually sorts it.

 

** Power off, wait ten seconds then on again

 

My bedside Alexa, the sort with a clock display, did its own reset yesterday morning.  I was just idly watching the time when the clock went off, the blue ring circled for some minutes, the clock displayed "Hello" and then the clock came back on.

 

Odd!

 

[monkeysarefun]

2 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

  Therefore it was probably full of Anti-iD stuff......to survive the 'strine climate I suppose.

 

 

They DO get sprayed with some stuff to keep the flies off.

Edited April 19 by monkeysarefun

[TheQ]

Clean windows? 

We don't bother, something to do with having specified self cleaning glass when we had this place double glazed 20 years ago. Never even had to clean a splat from a Feathered dive bomber, the next rain and it washes off. I suspect if I'd had them washed regularly then over the years it would have gradually worn the coating away.

Inside? Well that does need a wipe down occasionally.

 

Mooring Awl ,

4 hours sleep, 1, hours sleep, 2 hours sleep.

 

A ton of eco coal is due to arrive in ten minutes (07:20), I'll bet we are the first delivery this morning..  ( turned out to be the third delivery!!! 

 

Ben's been called in for blood tests, at 09:00 no food first, then have something to eat, then more bloods again at 11:00. Swmbo will feed him in the carpark. Then then take him for a walk, along the nearest public foot path, which happens to be the old muddle and go nowhere track bed from Stalham to Dilham, the old station  site is the carpark opposite the vets...

 

Once Theyve gone, I'll have breaky then get ready for the museum.

 

Hmm just had a power Off/ on, TV reset, router has dropped out and will take a couple of minutes to reboot.

 

The missing item from Amazon is on its way via royal mail.. most unusual.

 

Evening Awl 

All the above was written this morning by the time the coal man had delivered, Swmbo had departed with Ben, it was getting somewhat of late for the radar museum..

 

Got there to find the museum manager somewhat worried... Every one was late, I was second to arrive, just... I was just signing in when someone wrang in off sick.  About ten minutes later volunteers started arriving.. a very relieved manager..

 

The day went well a serious amount of muddling was done and the last of the fencing pins inserted. 500 to 600 in all.. painted the heads grey, that worked better that expected, I didn't have to the shafts as well. More pins were not so far pushed in, then painted brown and scrubbing pad bits glued on to make trees.

 

Channelled my inner Lucia today , the wall board poster I glued together last week had it's cracks and missing tiny bits filled with milliput. next week sanding and painting. 

It's been blowing a very chilly hoolie all day, currently rain is hammering on the windows..

 

Most of the visitors today were quite late on..

 

Then to the MRC via the chippy. Both went well.

 

News on Ben from SWMBO, she and Ben arrived at the vets ok, he was happy until the vet decided to take his blood in an upstairs room. Ben doesn't do stairs anymore he was very distressed at the thought, point blank refused and lay down . The vet and an assistant had to carry him up. He was ok with the blood being taken, but was even more distressed at being carried down the stairs. Swmbo then fed him and took him for a walk . They were back early but swmbo found a new art gallery near the vets to look around that allowed Ben to enter...

 

The vet didn't try to get him upstairs for the second set of tests but used the downstairs normal room..

He was then happy going home and has been spoilt all day.. the test results aren't due back till tomorrow afternoon..

 

Legs are now defrosting, I'm getting warmer.. 

Muggachoccy gone 

Good night Awl.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 19 by TheQ

[monkeysarefun]

5 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Same here, my house insurance became due in February. They more than doubled the premium and put the rebuilding costs as £600,000, on a house that had been only recently valued at £300,000!

 

 

 Building materials have skyrocketed in price since the pandemic,  and labour is scarce.

 

Also there may be additional "greentape" or similar,  like insulation standards that must be met now, I don't know about the UK but here houses in bushfire prone areas now have to have a whole heap of mandatory  extra "features" which can range from fireproof windows, ember proof guttering and roof construction techniques, automatic sprinklers on the building, fireproof shutters, etc.   Many people who lost their homes in the 2020 fires found that the insurance payout they got was not sufficient to allow them to rebuild their house as it was because all these extra conditions raised the rebuild cost substantially higher than the previous valuation that the payout had been based on.

 

Edited April 20 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

36 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

My bedside Alexa, the sort with a clock display, did its own reset yesterday morning.  I was just idly watching the time when the clock went off, the blue ring circled for some minutes, the clock displayed "Hello" and then the clock came back on.

 

Odd!

 

Auto-update probably?

[PhilJ W]

1 minute ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 Building materials have skyrocketed in price since the pandemic,  and labour is scarce.

 

Also there may be additional "greentape" like insulation standards that must be met now, I don't know about the UK but here houses in bushfire prone areas now have to have a whole heap of mandatory  extra "features" which can range from fireproof windows, ember proof roof construction techniques, automatic sprinklers on the building, fireproof shutters, etc.   Many people who lost their homes in the 2020 fires found that the insurance payout they got was not sufficient to allow them to rebuild their house as was because all these extra conditions raised the rebuild cost far higher than the previous valuation that the payout had been based on.

 

Much of the value of a property in the UK is in the ground it stands on. The ground is still there even if the property burns to the ground.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

 

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[monkeysarefun]

3 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Much of the value of a property in the UK is in the ground it stands on. The ground is still there even if the property burns to the ground.

 

Well it seems to me  a bit illogical  if   insurance valuations are based solely on that?   Here there are still many old original  small cottages sitting on prime beachfront land amongst recently built  multi-million dollar properties. The real estate valuation (ie what you could ask for  if you sold it)  would be similar to  the surrounding mansions due to its  desirability as a knockdown - rebuild sitting on prime real estate, but the insurance valuation would be based mainly on the cost of rebuilding the dwelling  as-is, plus any risk (floodprone etc).  As you say, the land contains the value and you still have that after the house burns down.

 

 

Edited April 20 by monkeysarefun

[Sidecar Racer]

2 hours ago, Barry O said:

Cricket was umpired. It was very cold..

 

 

 Well it's no good complaining , for the last 3 or so years you've been saying you were giving up

umpiring .  

[monkeysarefun]

4 hours ago, Barry O said:

 

 

Baz at Headingley.

 

 

 

 

Did you  do the Dickie Bird Dismissal Finger in tribute?

 

 

 

Edited April 20 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

Not recommended legal strategy - when about to be tried on numerous charges, publicly call the judge who will decide your sentence if convicted a "whackjob".

[Ozexpatriate]

7 hours ago, The White Rabbit said:

I've never been able to get pastrami other than in plastic packets and thinly sliced but I can see how that could also be very nice. 

Here it is widely available with variable quality.

 

I was taken to "The Refuge" in San Carlos, CA where it is the specialty. (They pair pastrami sandwiches with Belgian beers, which were there an elective heaven, this concept would be close.)  

 

It was featured on a Food Network show called Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, which, once you get past the over-the-top, frosted-hair, host (with whom I once shared an airport security line - he was headed to an appearance on late-night television) showcases a lot of really good (and not 'posh') eateries.

[jjb1970]

One of the things I like about the US is the variety of food, the diversity of people means you can find just about anything. And a lot of the small diners and truck stalls are superb. That's something I like about London, name a style of food and you'll probably find it in London and find it done pretty well.

[jjb1970]

I just watched 'Jaws' again on bluray, the fact it's an oldie and many of us have seen it so many times can obscure just what a remarkable film it is. The down side is it probably did more to damage the image of sharks and cause people to be frightened of shark attack than everything else on the subject put together. That's obviously a legitimate fear as shark attack is a real danger in some areas but as with so many other 'predators' sharks have far more cause to be frightened of humans than we have of them. However the way Spielberg builds tension, the use of music and the chemistry between the three leads (which legend has it mirrored difficult relationships behind the scenes) and Spielberg's usual outstanding direction resulted in a truly brilliant movie, one of the great achievements of cinema. Well worth watching again.

[Ozexpatriate]

4 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

The real estate valuation (ie what you could ask for  if you sold it)  would be similar to  the surrounding mansions due to its  desirability as a knockdown - rebuild sitting on prime real estate, but the insurance valuation would be based mainly on the cost of rebuilding the dwelling  as-is, plus any risk (floodprone etc). 

Here the real estate valuation is used for property tax assessment. There are protections - enacted by voter referenda - to grandfather the valuation based on the sale price with some small-ish increases over time. This began in California decades ago where property taxes (linked to exponentially rising home prices) were driving people out of their homes, particularly those on a fixed income.

 

Reconstruction cost drives the price of insurance. I had my 'sticker shock' moment with increased home owners' insurance last Autumn. The insurance industry is being hammered by climate-change related catastrophes (wildfires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes) coupled with a scarcity of builders* and inflation in the price of building materials. The replacement/reconstruction cost of my home exceeds its resale value dramatically.

 

* Many of the subcontractors disappeared around 2017. I'll let you do the maths.

 

[Ozexpatriate]

1 minute ago, jjb1970 said:

The down side is it probably did more to damage the image of sharks and cause people to be frightened of shark attack than everything else on the subject put together.

Still waiting for our resident western Sydneysider to film the horses looking over the fence from the paddock next door with the sound track - da-dum, da-dum, da-dum ...

[Ozexpatriate]

19 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

The issue is really about avoiding unconscious bias (or indeed, conscious bias) in interviews. Ideally an interview should be conducted in such a way that the interviewers are unaware of the candidate's identity in terms of protected characteristics such as gender, age, race, etc.

Unless the interviews are conducted purely in writing, addressing Dear "Candidate 1" (address undisclosed to the interviewer) that is quite impossible.

 

The only pragmatic way to handle this is to make sure the interview team is well educated on avoiding bias - conscious or otherwise.

 

One could imagine a Victorian application for employment in writing by post but even names are suggestive of gender, ethnicity and even class. Address is suggestive of socio-economic status.

 

A former boss liked to have a sample of a candidate's written work. This remains a good idea, but few insist on it. It's difficult when, excepting in the academic sphere, most professional written work is not public information.  I did recently see a baccalaureate candidate submit a PowerPoint presentation instead of a traditional resume. He was offered the job.

 

[monkeysarefun]

22 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Still waiting for our resident western Sydneysider to film the horses looking over the fence from the paddock next door with the sound track - da-dum, da-dum, da-dum ...

 

 

All good here now, they went months ago -  apparently the 4 legged freeloaders  didn't pay their agistment fees which is typical of horses so the paddock is empty.  It is also free of all the eyesores that horses bring with them, blankets chucked over fences, feed bins and troughs, abandoned horse floats.

 

Cows are much neater, and unlike horses they add something to the landscape, like the ones I overlook behind.

 

[Ozexpatriate]

5 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Auto-update probably?

New spy-ware install.

[Ozexpatriate]

22 hours ago, Hroth said:

Blakes "Dark Satanic Mills" were the Cathedrals and Parish Churches of the Established Church of England, echoing the mills of the Industrial Revolution.

That observation has set me thinking.

 

So if that poem (essentially then a rant against the established church, by an enlightenment era enthusiast for the French revolution) is an unofficial anthem of English sports fans - roses or lions or whatever (and others equally proud of England's green & pleasant land), then is it so in ignorance?

 

Much like this critical observation in the Wikipedia article:

Quote

"the adoption by the Churches and women's organizations of this anti-clerical paean of free love is amusing evidence of the carelessness with which poetry is read"

 

We were introduced to Blake in school - but in the context of a Tyger. Which is (of course) not about a tiger at all but a contemplation on why a "loving" God permits the existence of evil.

 

Edited April 20 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

19 hours ago, polybear said:

... at 02-something that bluddy Wee Wee Fairy paid Bear a visit - after which I couldn't get back to zeddyland.  Poo.  I did eventually manage it, only to wake again at 04-something with an achy back and an uncommon headache.  Double Poo.

So was the Wee Wee Fairy accompanied by the Poo Poo Gnome? 😉

 

Never mind. TMI.

 

Edited April 20 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

2 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Not recommended legal strategy - when about to be tried on numerous charges, publicly call the judge who will decide your sentence if convicted a "whackjob".

With a gag order in place?

[jjb1970]

35 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Unless the interviews are conducted purely in writing, addressing Dear "Candidate 1" (address undisclosed to the interviewer) that is quite impossible.

 

The only pragmatic way to handle this is to make sure the interview team is well educated on avoiding bias - conscious or otherwise.

 

One could imagine a Victorian application for employment in writing by post but even names are suggestive of gender, ethnicity and even class. Address is suggestive of socio-economic status.

 

A former boss liked to have a sample of a candidate's written work. This remains a good idea, but few insist on it. It's difficult when, excepting in the academic sphere, most professional written work is not public information.  I did recently see a baccalaureate candidate submit a PowerPoint presentation instead of a traditional resume. He was offered the job.

 

 

Indeed, it's all but impossible to avoid unless you have a wall between interviewer and candidate but that raises the question of how can either side form a view of the other and whether it's the right match? You can infer quite a bit about a persons background from a candidates educational record (which schools and universities) and employment record. Is that because they were an outstanding student, received a scholarship etc or did they get the right start in life? And trying to erase all background information can be counter productive, if I see a CV from someone who has done well but not spectacularly so from a background which might be challenging I'd put a lot of weight on their human qualities, more so than someone who ticks all the academic boxes but who really should do so given their path through life. If it's truly blind and you just go on metrics then the obvious choice will be the one with a better record by those metrics which introduces a new set of barriers/advantages heavily influenced by social background.

 

I used to work with a guy who was an inveterate social snob and who made no secret of the fact that he was looking for Oxbridge graduates, and preferred applicants from the Foreign and Commonwealth office or other government foreign services on a list of countries he considered acceptable alternatives. The result was predictable, a team of mini-me clones and zero diversity of thought processes and ideas. However, it was also true he never gave me any impression of being racist, sexist or anything and his team was actually very diverse in those terms. Because I was on the technical side I was recruited by a different hiring manager. On the technical side requiring an engineering degree, chartered engineer status and experience in policy/regulatory development meant they were going to get a certain type of candidate but at least those attributes had relevance to the role in a way that judging people from the university they attended and having worked for the right department in the right government didn't (if they were looking for civil servants then DfT would have been the relevant department).